Soaps easy enough for anyone to make! All you need to have is some purchased melt and pour base, a double boiler, some additives such as fragrance oils, essential oils, herbs, coloring and molds.

Step 1: Cut and weigh out your base and place into the top half of a double boiler; Keep it covered as it's melting so as not lose moisture. Melt over low heat, you don't want to let it get too hot, try not to let it get over 160 degrees or you will get cloudy bars. A good tip is to let half of the base melt, then remove from the heat and leave it in the water until it melts the rest of the way. Try not to stir it as it's melting, if you have to, just gently nudge the soap around or you will create air bubbles which won't make very appealing bars.

Step 2: Add your colorant. Many people use food coloring, but they can fade and bleed. You can purchase color nuggets, micas or pigments to help achieve a better color. Stir your coloring in gently.

Step 3: Add any additives such as herbs when your base has cooled and started to thicken to help suspend them in the base. You can also add other ingredients at this time such as aloe vera gel, vitamin E, beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter, etc. Melt your solids such as cocoa butter and beeswax before adding to the base. You can use 1 Tablespoon per pound of base.

Step 4: Add fragrance. This is up to your own preferences, you may use fragrance oils or essential oils, just make sure the fragrances are safe for soapmaking and use on the skin. Fragrance is added at anywhere from 1 tsp. up to 1 Tbs. per pound depending on how strong you want it to smell.

Step 5: Pour into molds.

Step 6: Unmold after hardened and enjoy. These soaps can be used right away. Tips: if you have trouble unmolding your soap, stick it in the refrigerator for a few minutes and try again. Keep your soaps wrapped in plastic wrap, such as cling wrap or saran wrap to protect your bars from moisture. When your cooling your base to suspend herbs, gently keep stirring, preferably with a wooden spoon, or even a wooden chopstick, to keep skin from forming.



Recipes
Citrus & Calendula Glycerine Soap
M & P transparent soap base
1/4 cup calendula petals (dried)
15 drops of yellow food coloring
3/4 tsp. grapefruit essential oil
1/2 tsp. tangerine essential oil
1 tb melted shea butter ..melted separately

Melt the soap base... at the same time melt the shea butter in a custard cup placed in a pan of boiling water or in the microwave. Add calendula petals to the melted base, a few drops of yellow food coloring..... the essential oil and then the melted shea butter..... try to have this the same temp as the melt and pour.

Keep stirring the soap/ shea butter mixture.As it starts to set up spoon into Pour into heart molds. ( By spooning you have more control how many of the calendula leaves go into each mold) Let my molds set at room temp until them are skimmed over fairly firm.... they I chill them in the freezer for about a half hour before removing them from the mold..... and place them on a rack to finish drying completely. Note: By stirring the soap/ shea butter mixture as it cools..... the butter will not float to the top and make little circles of butter... which might look like mold to those that don't know.



Orange Julius Glycerine Soap
2 cups transparent M&P soap base, melted
2 tsps honey
1 tsp Almond Oil
1 tsp French white clay powder
1/4-1/2 tsp Orange frangrant oil or essential oil 1/4-1/2 Vanilla fragrant oil

While the M&P is melting, mix the French clay, the almond oil and the honey together in a small bowl. When the M&P has fully melted, mix in the clay/honey/oil mixture and scent. You shouldn't need to add any colourant.



Dog Glycerine Soap Bar
4 oz. melt and pour base
1 tablespoon herbal shampoo
400 IU vitamin E
1/4 teaspoon liquid glycerin
essential oils of tea tree, peppermint or lavender
Tea tree oil for it's antiseptic quality and peppermint since fleas don't like the smell of it

Melt the base and then add the rest of the ingredients. This is better than liquid soap for dogs because it is easier to use on them. Just rub the bar around on the wet dog.



Natural Sunflower Seed Glycerine Soap
Sunflower Tea Mixture:
1 c sunflower petals in clean jar add 1cup of cool water, place in sunny place for few hours, strain, discard petals

2 cups of soap base
4 tb Sunflower Tea
2 tb Sunflower Oil
2 tb sunflower seeds (unsalted, raw, hulled & pulverized)
1 tsp. heli-carrot oil

Melt the base and then add the rest of the ingredients. Pour into molds.



Oceania Glycerine Soap
1 pound melt & pour soap base
lilac and blue mica
1 tablespoon Oceania fragrance oil
1 teaspoon dried apple mint
1 teaspoon dried lemon or lime balm
2 vitamin E capsules
1 teaspoon castor oil

In a double boiler, heat soap base and colorants until about half of the base is melted. Remove from heat and cover until base is fully melted. Stir in FO, finely ground herbs, Vitamin E, and castor oil. Gently stir until colorants are evenly distributed and base begins to cool and thicken. Pour into molds.Use opaque base with this recipe. The white base and the ground herbs make this look like an old-fashioned herbal soap, and the mica adds just a touch of sparkle. The herbs also add a top note to the Oceania FO. If a tablespoon of FO is used, this will be fairly heavily scented.



Earth Clay Glycerine Soap
1 lb. melt & pour soap base
2 tb Jojoba Oil
1 tb Earth Clay
1/4 cup distilled water colorant and scent

In a double boiler, heat soap base and colorants until about half of the base is melted. Remove from heat and cover until base is fully melted. Stir in other ingredients. Pour into molds.



Glycerin Facial Soap Bar
13 oz opaque melt & pour soap base
3 tsp lavender flower infused oil - olive, jojoba, or almond
1 tsp. Lavender essential oil
1 tsp. Vitamin E
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. pink clay
1/2 tsp. finely ground lavender flowers
tint for colour

Gently melt m&p in double boiler. Add oil, vit e, honey until mixed, then add eo, flowers, clay, and tint. Pour into molds.



Gent's Glycerine Soap Bar
3 1/2 lbs opaque melt & pour soap base
2 tsp. beeswax (melt wax alone and add to melted M&P)
2 tsp. cocoa butter
4 Vitamin E capsules pierced and contents squeezed into melted M&P
1 1/2 droppers of Canadian Balsam Fir essential oil
dried ground basil leaves
tint of choice (try woodsy greens or light browns)

Melt soap base and cocoa butter in double boiler (do not let base get any hotter than 160). When base is completely melted, add melted beeswax, vitamin E and coloring .

Take portion of double boiler containing base off and set to cool. When first small traces of skin start forming, add essential oil. Gently stir to cool base some more, then gently stir in basil Pour base into desired mold...the cooler your base, the more suspended your basil will be.




Rosa Rugosa Pink Wild Rose Soap

This soap can be made only during the blooming time of the wild rose. It is one of the mildest soaps I've ever made, and the memory of making it is as good as any memory could ever be. You will remember your walk in the early morning sun. You will remember the bees and the scratches on your skin. You will remember the relentless picking of perfection and the scent of wild rose heaven. There will be a quiet memory of your walk home with a gallon pail full of roses . . . then the fragrant steam rising as you cover the roses with piping hot water. After the water cools, filter the rose water through a cloth and proceed to capture your summer morning in a batch of soap.

Oil Blends:
24 ounces olive oil
24 ounces coconut oil
38 ounces vegetable shortening (Crisco)
Alkaline Solution:
12 ounces sodium hydroxide (lye)
32 ounces rain, spring, distilled, or tap water with fresh wild rose infusion
Essential or Fragrance Oil:
4 ounces of your favorite rose oil
Colorant:
As desired: melted pink crayon or red ochre or soap dye chips


Oatmeal Complexion Soap
Oatmeal was the first filled soap that I made. It has a textural beauty that is hard to match. I find this soap a pleasure to make because it thickens so perfectly and cures much faster than other soaps. I love the simple, natural scent of the oat grains. Traditionally, oatmeal soap has been used for bathing children who have chicken pox or measles.
Oil Blends:
24 ounces olive oil
24 ounces coconut oil
38 ounces vegetable shortening (Crisco)
Alkaline Solution:
12 ounces sodium hydroxide (lye)
32 ounces rain-, spring, distilled, or tap water
Essential or Fragrance Oil:
None
Filler:
8 ounces powdered oatmeal (blenderized oats)


Comfrey and Aloe Vera Soap

This soap was inspired by a problem patch of comfrey that had begun to overtake an entire section of my garden fifteen years ago. I was looking for a good use for the plant so that the plant's demise would not seem so cruel. I spent an entire day harvesting what seemed like a mile of comfrey root. I carefully washed and then dried the root on screens in the attic of my barn.
The next task was to powder the root. Then I began experiments incorporating the root into soap formulas. Soon it became obvious to me that comfrey root powder turned soap into something splendid for sensitive skin. The green and mucilaginous comfrey plants give the soap a special healing, soothing quality as well as a beautiful dark violet color. Collect and dry enough comfrey root to produce 4 ounces of powder (about one foot-long root). Roots must be thoroughly dry before pulverizing in a food processor.

Oil Blends:
24 ounces olive oil
24 ounces coconut oil
38 ounces vegetable shortening (Crisco)
Alkaline Solution:
12 ounces sodium hydroxide (lye)
32 ounces rain-, spring, distilled, or tap water
Essential or Fragrance Oil:
2 ounces each lavender, rosemary, and aloe vera oil
Other:
4 ounces comfrey root powder

These recipes are taken from Sandy Maine's book entitled, The Soap Book